1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to memory systems and in particular to a flash memory system having a fast erase operation.
2. Background Art
Non-volatile memory systems have become increasingly popular, especially flash memory systems. FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art flash memory cell 10. The cell 10 is formed in a P type substrate 12. A double diffused source region includes an inner N+ type diffusion 11 and an outer N type diffusion 15. A single drain diffusion 16 of N+ material is formed in the substrate and spaced apart from the source diffusions 11, 15 to form an intermediate channel region 12a.
A floating gate 18, typically made of doped polysilicon, is disposed over the channel region 12a. The floating gate 18 is electrically isolated from the other cell elements by oxide, including a thin (100 .ANG.) gate oxide 20 intermediate the floating gate 18 and the channel region 12a. A control gate 22 is disposed over the floating gate 18 and is also made of doped polysilicon. Control gate 22 is separated from the floating gate 18 by an interpoly dielectric layer 24.
Table 1, below, shows the conventional approach to the programming, reading and erasing (two approaches) of a flash memory cell. The voltages are based upon the assumption that the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC for the memory is +5 volts. The conditions for programming
TABLE 1 ERASE ERASE PROGRAM READ ONE TWO CONTROL +12 +5 GROUND -10 to -17 GATE volts volts volts DRAIN +6 to +9 +1 FLOAT FLOAT volts volts SOURCE GROUND GROUND +12 +5 volts volts SUBSTRATE GROUND GROUND GROUND GROUND
call for the application of a high positive voltage V.sub.G, such as +12 volts, to the control gate 22 of the cell 10. In addition, a moderate positive voltage V.sub.D of +6 to +9 volts is applied to the drain 16 and the source 11, 15 voltage V.sub.S is at ground level, as is the substrate voltage V.sub.SUB. The current requirements for the +12 volts applied to the control gate 22 and the +6 to +9 volts applied to the drain region 16 are relatively small, this being due in part to the fact that only a few flash cells are ever programmed at one time. Thus, these voltages can be generated on the integrated circuit utilizing charge pump circuitry which is powered by the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC.
The above conditions result in the inducement of hot electron injection in the channel region 12a near the drain region 16 of the cell. These high energy electrons travel through the thin gate oxide 20 towards the positive voltage present on the control gate and collect on the floating gate 18. These electrons will remain on the floating gate and will function to reduce the effective threshold voltage of the cell as compared to a cell which has not been programmed.
Table 1 also shows the conditions for reading cell 10. The control gate voltage V.sub.G is connected to the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC of +5 volts. In addition, the drain voltage V.sub.D is set to a small positive voltage of +1 volts and the source voltage V.sub.S is set to ground potential. If the cell 10 were in a programmed state, the excess electrons present on the floating gate would have increased the threshold voltage to a value in excess of +5 volts. Thus, the control gate V.sub.G to source voltage V.sub.S of +5 volts would not be sufficient to turn on cell 10. The resultant lack of cell current would indicate the programmed state of the cell. If cell 10 were in an erased state, the threshold voltage of the cell would be substantially below +5 volts. In that case, the cell 10 would conduct current which would be sensed by a sense amplifier (not depicted) thereby indicating that the cell is in the erased state.
Table 1 shows two exemplary conventional alternative sets of conditions for erasing a flash cell. In the first example, the control gate 22 voltage V.sub.G is grounded and the drain region 16 is left floating (open). The source region voltage V.sub.S is connected to a large positive voltage of +12 volts. When these conditions are applied to the cell 10, a strong electric field is generated between the floating gate 18 and the source region 11, 15. This field causes the electrons on the floating gate 18 to be transferred to the source region 11, 15 by way of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, sometimes called cold electron injection.
The above conditions for erasing a cell have been viewed by others as disadvantageous in that the large positive voltage (+12 volts) applied to the source region is difficult to implement in an actual memory system. First, the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC in a typical integrated circuit memory system is +5 volts and is provided by an external power supply such as a battery. Thus, one approach would be to include a charge pump on the memory integrated circuit which is also powered by the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC. However, a typical integrated circuit memory system may include a million or more cells all or a very large group of which will be erased at the same time. Thus, the charge pump circuit must be capable of providing relatively large amounts of current on the order of 20 to 30 milliamperes. This has been viewed by others as impractical thus necessitating the use of an a second external supply voltage for producing the +12 volts applied to the source region. This would typically preclude battery powered operation where multiple batteries, such as a +5 volt primary supply battery and a +12 volts battery, is not practical.
The application of the relatively high voltage of +12 volts has also been viewed as disadvantageous in that there was believed to be a tendency to produce high energy holes ("hot" holes) at the surface of the source region 11, 15 near the channel region 12a. These positive charges were said to have a tendency to become trapped in the thin gate oxide 20 and eventually migrate to the floating gate and slowly neutralize any negative charge placed on the floating gate during programming. Thus, over time, the programmed state of the cell may be altered. Other deleterious effects due to the presence of holes have been noted, including the undesired tendency to program non-selected cells.
The above-described disadvantages of the erase conditions set forth in Table 1 (Erase 1) have been noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,691 entitled FLASH EEPROM ARRAY WITH NEGATIVE GATE VOLTAGE ERASE OPERATION. The solution in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,691 is summarized in Table 1 (Erase 2). A relatively large negative voltage ranging from -10 to -17 volts is applied to the gate 22 during an erase operation. In addition, the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC of +5 volts (or less) is applied to the source region 11, 15. The drain region 16 is left floating.
Although the source current remains relatively high, the voltage applied to the source is sufficiently low that the +5 volt primary supply voltage V.sub.CC can be used directly or the source voltage may be derived from the primary supply voltage using a resistive divider and associated buffer. In either event, since the source voltage is equal to or less than the primary supply voltage, the large source currents required in erase operations can be provided without the use of charge pump circuitry. The high impedance control gate 22 of the flash cell draws very little current. Accordingly, the large positive voltage applied to the control gate 22 in the erase operation can be provided by a charge pump circuit. Thus, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,691, only a single external power supply, the +5 volt supply for V.sub.CC, need be used.
In addition, the use of a relatively small source voltage equal to voltage V.sub.CC or less is said to decrease the magnitude of the source 11, 15 to substrate 12 voltage. This is said to reduce the tendency for the generation of "hot" holes during erase and the resultant hole trapping.
There has been a tendency to reduce the magnitude of the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC so that low power battery operation may be achieved. It is now common to utilize primary supply voltages that are +3.3 volts or smaller as compared to the previous +5 volt standard. However, the speed of the erase operation is determined primarily by the strength of the electric field between the source region and the floating gate. The erase speed is, in fact, exponentially related to the strength of the electric field.
When the magnitude of source voltage V.sub.S is decreased due of the use of smaller values of primary supply voltage V.sub.CC, one could attempt to compensate for the decrease in source voltage by increasing the. magnitude of the negative voltage V.sub.G applied to the control gate. However, the increase in magnitude in the control gate voltage V.sub.G must be greater than the decrease in magnitude of the source voltage V.sub.S because the coupling coefficient between the control gate 22 and the floating gate 18 is less than unity. Thus, for every one volt reduction in source voltage it is necessary to increase the magnitude of the control gate voltage by roughly 1.6 to 2 volts in order to maintain the same field strength. However, it is difficult to implement a charge pump which is capable of developing a large negative voltage, especially with the now common practice of reducing the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC to +3.3 volts. Accordingly, the approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,691 results in reduced erase speeds when the primary supply voltage V.sub.CC is reduced in magnitude.
The present invention overcomes the above disadvantages of the prior art. It is possible to achieve operation on a single external voltage supply V.sub.CC, even for low values of V.sub.CC without sacrificing erase speed. These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following Detailed Description of the Invention together with the drawings.